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05/25/2004: "Water Peddling"
Having been out of work since January, I've been wondering how to earn enough money to not just eat, but also to keep my blathering alive. I talked to someone who peddled water around Wrigley Field last year, and an idea was born.
He lived there, which made his life easy. He could sell some water and restock at need. He'd go out for 45 minutes before the game started and earn about $150. Hearing this, of course, my ears perked up. He would sell water for $2 per bottle (he said 16 ounce, I assume he meant the more standard half liter) or two bottles for $3; most people got 2 bottles. I went KMart and bought two coolers; I can squeeze 60 bottles in each cooler; 48 bottles plus ice per cooler ought to be a comfortable fit, or 96 bottles per trip. At $1.50 per bottle, I would be able to gross $144 per trip. Water costs from $5 to $8 for 30 bottles at Walgreens; that's $16 to $25.60 for 96 bottles.
Physics
Of course, I have to get the water cold. Unable to rely on my undersized refigerator, I must use ice. To determine the relative cooling power of ice, I had to know how much energy it would take to cool a kilogram of water. The heat capacity of water is 4.184 kJ/kg K. I also had to know how much energy it takes to melt a kilogram of ice. The heat of fusion of water is 334 kJ/kg . Comparing these two numbers, I see that if I combine one kilogram of ice at zero degrees Celcius with one kilogram of ice at just under 80 degrees Celcius, I will end up with 2 kilograms of water at zero degrees Celcius. Or, I can start with one unit of ice at freezing and two units of water at forty degrees Kelvin above freezing and end up with three units of water at freezing.
This is akin to saying I can start with equal amounts of 32 degree Farenheit ice and 176 degree Farenheit water and end up with 32 degree Farenheit water. Or, I can start with one unit of ice at freezing and three units of water at eighty degrees Farenheit and end up with four units of water at freezing. One liter of water weighs 2.2 pounds. 48 half liter bottles contain 24 liters of water, which weighs 52.8 pounds. If I assume that water to be at 80 degrees farenheit to start, I will need 17.6 pounds of ice to get that water down to freezing. That is about two $1.50 8 pound bags of ice per cooler, with a third bag of ice to keep the water cold during the sales.
The total weight of each cooler would be 52.8 pounds of product and 24 pounds of ice. Adding 30 pounds for the coolers and cart, I have about 180 pounds to push around, which I can handle. If I gross $144 per trip with costs of $9 for ice and $25 for water, I net $110 for a two to four hour shift. Not what I dreamed of doing when I was growing up, but I can live off that. Besides, there are other items to peddle out there.
Regulators
I have two sites in mind for selling water; outside Wrigley Field and outside Navy Pier. I used to work on Navy Pier, so I know I can find good spots to sell there. I stopped by Wrigley Field last week to scope out good selling spots. (They exist.) I also talked to a cop (three stripes, no less) about his impressions of where I could sell; he refered me to Alderman Tunney. Somehow, this seems like the face of Chicago Politics; if I want permission to do something, I need to talk to the local political Don. The good news is, he didn't have any specific knowledge that I could not sell around Wrigley Field.
I did get some misinformation from a couple of other people. One said it was easy to get a peddler's license, that taxes were not a problem. Another said that it was hard as heck to get a peddler's license, that I'd have to get proof of insurance first.
So I went to City Hall to get information on a peddler's license. Yes, I do need to worry about taxes, but it's easy to register a business in Illinois, and thus charge state tax. And Chicago law states that the Director of Revenue "shall issue" a peddler's license unless I'm a bad boy.
The one stickler is whether I need to get a food peddling license or a non-food peddling license. To sell food, I need to go through the health department and pay $330. To get a non food license, I need to pay $70 (or $80) and go through the city clerk. The clerk I spoke to said that, in this context, drinking water is treated like food, and that the Health department only issues licenses for food to be sold from real estate or from motor vehicles.
That was deflating. All my dreams took a tumble. Still, I got the forms, just in case.
The Workaround
So now, I'm thinking, why can't I sell water for external use only? If people choose to drink it anyway, what can little-old-I do about it? I could have a sign such as:
Aqua-Cool
You don't need to drink water to get cool!
You can pour it on your clothes and let feel relief as the water evaporates!
And don't worry, for all but the most delicate of fabrics, this is safe for your clothes. I only sell high quality drinking water. I buy it from reputable merchants do not let it become tainted. I drink the water that I sell. I say this because I want you to feel safe pouring this drinking water on your clothes.
I can not, however, sell you water to drink. The City of Chicago, in all their wisdom, will not let me. To them, selling water to drink is like selling raw pork to eat; if mishandled, it can make you sick. Understandably, the City of Chicago will not let anyone sell food from a pushcart. Unfortunately, neither will they let me sell water to drink.
I cannot sell you water to drink. I will sell you drinking water for other purposes. What you do with it is your business.
Or something like that. That seems a bit wordy. But it indicates that my water is drinkable without concentrating on the drinkability.
What scares me is that some cop will arrest me for selling water without a license, fine me hundreds of dollars and throw me in jail, possibly exposing my cart to forfeiture or theft. Who knows, a Chicagoland judge might even find me guilty. And I just don't care to spend money on a business of dubious legality just to have it taken away from me at further expense.
On the other hand, it is better to try and fail than to never try at all.
More later.
